Abstract:

The energy consumption of hot air drying and alternative feed grain preservation methods was examined. Alternative methods were airtight preservation, acid preservation and grain crimping. The results indicate that significant energy savings can be achieved by using any of these methods instead of hot air dying for preservation of home-grown grain used for animal feeding. Remarkable differences in the energy consumption between the alternative methods were also found. Grain crimping showed the lowest energy consumption, but the effect of the used additive and especially the storage system was large. A suitable option for different farm animal species can be found among these methods, and the limitations, when they exist, are set rather by the feeding technology than the nutritive value of the preserved grain.